The present invention relates generally to an adhesive bandage arrangement to provide for temporary and supplementary support for the ankle for preventing injury or trauma to the area such as a sprain or the like. The present invention includes an adhesive plaster support formed in a fashion such that improved and enhanced support is obtainable due to the design and configuration of the bandage.
Frequently, individuals experience sprains and/or other damage to the ankle area, and temporary support for at least partial immobilization of the ankle joint frequently aids in the prevention of such injury or, if an injury has already occurred, to aid in the healing process. Individuals suffer sprains from a variety of causes, and these individuals come from a total cross-section of the population. Healthy, active individuals as well as mostly inactive sedentary individuals suffer from ankle sprains from time to time.
Most frequently, however, athletes or individuals engaged in athletics suffer sprains. In order to assist these individuals in remaining active and mobile, ankle supports in the form of adhesive plasters and adhesive-backed tape have been employed, as well as conventional ankle wrapping with elastic bandages.
While ankle wrapping procedures, particularly conventional ankle wrapping procedures utilizing adhesive-backed tape (adhesive tape) are common and straightforward, these procedures frequently involve the use of relatively thin individual strips such as in the area of about one-inch in width of adhesive tape applied on a sequential basis to form the ankle support bandage. Frequently, when undertaking such a wrapping procedure, different angular dispositions as well as different degrees of tension are set up in the individual strips. As a result, the support achieved by such an adhesive means lacks uniformity from one edge to the other.
Conventional ankle wrapping procedures normally include the utilization of one group of elongated strips which extend from the lateral portions of the ankle and under the arch of the foot in a generally "U"-shaped configuration. Following the placing of these strips or segments upon the ankle-arch area, there is thereafter placed a series of adhesive bands or strips about the ankle joint. Typically, the ankle joint is defined as that zone lying adjacent the distal end of the fibula and tibia, or talus. The wrapping of the ankle with a peripheral wrap normally covers the free ends of the "U"-shaped members previously set in place so as to complete the formation of the ankle support. Again, this procedure frequently results in the formation of a support in which the tension varies from one edge to the other, as well as from one side to the other.